Thesis (Ph. D.)--Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Program in Science, Technology and Society, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references (295-338). / In this dissertation, I trace methods for organizing skilled workers engaged in creative, limited-term projects in the United States between the nineteenth century and the 1950s. Examining eras of system building in technical fields-civil engineering in the nineteenth century, laboratory administration in the 1910s and 1920s, aircraft design in the 1930s, and electronics in the 1950s-I show that recent discourse on the management of innovation and change is a manifestation of a cyclically recurring conversation. This story complicates prevalent views of management theory and practice before World War II by recovering a thread obscured by emphasis on the organization of integrated, divisional companies and operative labor within them. Applying ideas from recent work in organization studies to distill common aspects of the management problems and labor processes individuals have confronted and theorized, I find common patterns: managers of construction firms, engineering departments, and research laboratories have again and again theorized the fast-moving, knowledge-intensive, relational organization, doing so long before these terms were available. Such thinking has been driven both by practical needs and because external pressures have forced explanation of seemingly uncontrolled, irrational work. Practically, the transferability of management techniques among settings such as construction and research has reflected kinships between labor and communication processes: each has involved skilled workers producing complex artifacts in uncertain physical, technical, and social environments. / (cont.) The need to explain such work, though, has been as much about external representation as internal control. From origins in government oversight of appropriations and military use of esprit de corps to cohere organizations under stress, tools used to manage project-based enterprises have been applied in response to the speed, scale, and complexity of the work itself. At the same time, engineers have explained the management of their work to deflect pressures to apply the logics of factory production and Taylorist scientific management to the organization of skilled labor. As explanations of the differences between building and operating and as delineations of points and terms of physical and cultural contact, representations of engineering work in schedules, budgets, organization charts, and narratives have both controlled and insulated work. / by Benjamin W. Pinney. / Ph.D.

ABSTRACT Around 65 AD, the Ancient Roman philosopher Seneca wrote his only text concerning Natural Phenomenon: Natural Questions. Considered since medieval times as part of a trinity of great thinkers including Plato and Aristotle, Seneca’s work in rhetoric, philosophy, and legal theory still receive praise today. The praise is not replicated for Natural Questions, however. Modern historians who consider the work paint it as uninspiring. Pliny, another Roman author and philosopher, wrote a far more encompassing and detailed work called Natural History, and it is this work that is considered the premier Roman comment on Natural Philosophy. These contemporaneous works become juxtaposed and used to criticize Seneca’s work as inferior. A deeper consideration of the texts --primarily the subject material and use of poetry-- will determine that Seneca and Pliny wrote to different audiences and belong to different genres.

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This dissertation is an analysis of the professionalization tactics of white, native-born, Protestant, middle-class women who served with the U.S. armed forces as dietitians during World War I. Through the overlapping rubrics of maternalism, citizenship, and professionalism, I examine the ways in which dominant race, class, and gender ideologies inflected their quest for professionalization. I specifically examine the way hospital dietitians infused their expertise with rhetoric of race betterment and national security to acquire distinct status and authority in relation to other female medical/health practitioners. In this study, I locate the ideological origins of Public Law 36, 80 th Congress, establishing the U.S. Women's Medical Specialist Corps, within the cultural sensibilities of American antebellum evangelical health reform movements. Public Law 80-36 (April 16, 1947) authorized Regular Army commissions for dietitians, physical therapists, and occupational therapists. I contend that dietetics, a central force in the rise of the home economics movement, also served as an important portal for women's access to higher education in science and medicine. Finally, I hold that military service was critical to the professionalization of women's labor and claims to citizenship in early twentieth century America. In other words, military service allowed native-born, Protestant, middle- and upper-class, white American women to mobilize, network, and expand the scope of their work, as well as leaven their access to professional resources and political power.

This study was undertaken with the idea of bringing together information concerning some of the most important Kentuckians who have made contributions to the biological sciences. In order that we may better understand and appreciate the work done by these men, it was thought best to give a brief discussion of the major periods in the history of biological development. An attempt will be made to interpret the contributions of the men discussed, according to the period in which they lived. Only a sufficient number of men are discussed in each epoch to give a correct picture of the trends of that period.

This thesis presents an account of a prominent eighteenth-century European naturalist, Peter Pallas (1741-1811), in the setting to which he contributed his scientific talents—the St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences. A complete outline of Pallas' life is presented for purposes of continuity, but the heart of the thesis is presented in chapters four and five, which combined, relate the major features of Pallas' career in Russia. These two chapters are set against pertinent background material, most of which is involved with the institution itself which supported Pallas. The St. Petersburg Academy of Sciences is surveyed in its origin and development in the eighteenth century and material is presented which will outline the ups and downs of the development of academic life in Russia as well as the general milieu in which Pallas fitted. This milieu, it has been concluded, was one of lively and relatively unfettered advance in the development of science in Russia, to which Pallas contributed a great deal of stimulus by way of his widely known and respected accomplishments. The focal point of Pallas' career is represented by his Siberian expedition of 1768-1774, a momentous six-year scientific enterprise to which a central part of the research has been directed. The account of the Pallas Expedition presented here is entirely original, utilizing chiefly his own travel account and the Proceedings (Protokoly) of the Academy, from which source, in the absence of archival materials, can be gained the general content of Pallas' communications to the Academy during his absence. To add perspective, the Pallas Expedition has been set against the historical and contemporary background of Russian scientific exploration in the eighteenth century. An appendix has also been included which lists the Russian-sponsored eighteenth-century scientific expeditions. The follow-up to Pallas' expedition--the remainder of his career in St. Petersburg--is equally a central part of the study. As an academician in St. Petersburg from 1774 to 1793, Pallas was a luminary of European natural science as well as a pillar of scientific achievement in Russia. In historical terms and seen against the background of the Academy of which he was a part, Pallas’ scholarly contributions in Russia have been outlined, most of which can be explained as a consequence of his expedition. A wide selection of available secondary material has been utilized to explain Pallas’ academic career supplemented by some original research supplemented by some original research (chiefly from the Academy Proceedings) and the opportunity I have had to see and scan most of his major publications pertaining to zoology and botany, the major fields to which he contributed. Although of German background, Pallas spent most of his adult life in Russia (1767-1810). His career there forms one of the highlights of foreign scientific expeditionary achievement during the century that Russia relied almost exclusively on foreigners to establish the serious beginnings of both. His contributions--expeditionary and academically in the realm of biology--for obvious reasons are more closely connected to the Russian arena; perhaps for that reason he has failed to attract deserved notice alongside the eighteenth-century European naturalists who are now more popularly known. This thesis attempts no more than to account historically for the career of Peter Simon Pallas in Russia and to present his remarkable accomplishments. A categorized, partially annotated bibliography is appended, preceded by a bibliographic explanation.

We investigate the origins of mathematical societies and journals. We argue that the origins of today’s professional societies and journals have their roots in the informal gatherings of mathematicians in 17th century Italy, France, and England. The small gatherings in these nations began as academies and after gaining government recognition and support, they became the ancestors of the professional societies that exist today. We provide a brief background on the influences of the Renaissance and Reformation before discussing the formation of mathematical academies in each country.

We investigate the origins of mathematical societies and journals. We argue that the origins of today’s professional societies and journals have their roots in the informal gatherings of mathematicians in 17th century Italy, France, and England. The small gatherings in these nations began as academies and after gaining government recognition and support, they became the ancestors of the professional societies that exist today. We provide a brief background on the influences of the Renaissance and Reformation before discussing the formation of mathematical academies in each country.

This thesis focuses on the commercialization of Chinese medicine in the post-Mao era, from 1977 to 2014. It looks at its social and environmental impact on local rural areas.